Lee Ann Roripaugh

Lee Ann Roripaugh describes herself as a hapa poet and fiction writer of Japanese-American descent who, having grown up in Laramie, Wyoming with a first-generation Japanese mother, is a fusion of East-meets-American West. Originally trained as a classical pianist, she now finds herself obsessed with insects, mollusks, art glass, jellyfish, jazz, and sushi -- but not necessarily in that order. She is the author of three volumes of poetry: Beyond Heart Mountain (National Poetry Series - Penguin, 1999), Year of the Snake (Crab Orchard Poetry Series - Southern Illinois University Press, 2004), and On the Cusp of a Dangerous Year (Crab Orchard Poetry Series - Southern Illinois University Press, 2009). She currently lives in Vermillion, South Dakota, with several very wayward cats, and teaches creative writing and literature at The University of South Dakota.